


Tartarus, told in two parts

by radtothemax



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: #letpercycry2020, Emotional, F/M, M/M, like everyone cries but it's okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:42:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27605086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radtothemax/pseuds/radtothemax
Summary: Tartarus comes back to haunt all those who have been unfortunate enough to cross paths with literal hell. But the way it chooses to haunt its victims, well, that's different for everyone.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Nico di Angelo & Will Solace
Kudos: 20





	1. Percy

“What is this?”

“Poison. That’s your specialty, right?”

The broken glass splintered further under the immense pressure of the knot in his stomach. The goddess cowered in front of him, tears and spit sliding down her face. He imagined there was more, filling up her throat and making her choke, so, suddenly there was more. She coughed and gagged, trying pitifully to speak. Failing. He took a step forward.

His vision blurred. Heat boiled in his veins.

“Percy!”  
He took another step forward, and another. The goddess wasn’t going to get away from him. She’ll pay for what she tried to do.

“Stop…”

He felt the knot in his stomach grow tighter and tighter, building his strength. He felt powerful

“Percy, please…”

He felt invincible.

“Percy?”

A hand touched his shoulder and he jumped, his hand reaching for his pocket. He stopped, however, when he saw who it was.

“Hey, Annabeth.” He scooted over a little bit and made enough room on the blanket for her to take a seat. There was a nice, cool night breeze and the wind caught her hair. Luckily, Percy was sitting on the other side of her or else he would’ve been blinded by a sudden wall of thick blonde waves.

She held onto his arm and leaned her head against his shoulder.

It was a nice night. Clear sky, not much wind. Long Island Sound lapped against the beach, giving the pair a soft salt spray. Percy took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

“Percy, please don’t ever…”

He shook his head and opened them again, focusing on the water once more. He could feel it getting pushed and pulled by the moon in a steady rhythm. Did Poseidon and Artemis have to make some kind of special deal to get that situation going? Or was it something that just kind of happened?

“I still think about it too.” Annabeth’s voice was soft, quiet, almost spoken into Percy rather than at him. He didn’t have to ask what she was talking about.

The two of them didn’t talk a lot about Tartarus. They didn’t need to. It was something they had gone through together and it was definitely something neither of them wanted to relive. Verbally, anyway. As if they didn’t spend enough time thinking about it during their waking hours, their terrible memories were sure to come haunt them at night. Believe it or not, however, it got worse once they got back to camp.

There were strict rules about campers sleeping in their own cabins, and it felt a little too weird for Percy and Annabeth to ask Chiron for an exception, even considering what they had been through. At least on the Argo II they were able to share a room. No one on the ship asked them about it or thought it was strange when Percy was seen walking into Annabeth’s quarters before lights out instead of his own. After all that time, wandering through the literal home of pure evil, they needed to be near each other. Even if it was just in the same room.

For Percy, knowing Annabeth was there and being able to watch her chest move up and down with her breath, proving that she really was still there, well, that was enough. Even then it wasn’t a peaceful sleep, but most of the time, they were able to make it through the night without waking up.

Ever since they got back to camp, it was rare Percy ever went to sleep. He was just lucky he had a cabin all to himself. He could stay up all night or wake up screaming as much as he wanted without being worried someone might hear him. Annabeth didn’t have that luxury. Once, they actually went over to Cabin Fifteen to ask Clovis if there was anything he could do, but even the son of Hypnos eventually ran out of options. And it wasn’t just the dreams, either, it was the night itself.

The darkness could sometimes be a little too familiar.

“So, what was it?” asked Annabeth. Percy took a second to respond.

“Akhlys.”

“Oh…” She didn’t sound sad, or even surprised, just...subdued. Quiet. Percy hated thinking about how terrifying seeing what he did must’ve been for Annabeth. And she must’ve known how strange it was for him.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I never should have-”

“No,” Annabeth interrupted him. She sat up and forced him to look at her. “You did what you needed to do. She was going to kill us.” Even in the pale light of the moon, Percy could tell her grey eyes were dark and full of clouds.

“And I was going to kill her.”

Annabeth sighed, settling back into her position nestled into his shoulder.

“Yes, yes you were.” They hadn’t talked about it before, not since it happened. Which meant Percy hadn’t told Annabeth how what he did made him feel. He dreaded it, but it felt like something he had to do. She was so scared and he...well, he wasn’t. But above it all, he was the one who made her feel like that. He didn’t think he’d ever forgive himself, but Annabeth deserved to know.

“Annabeth,” he said. “when I did what I did - when I...controlled Akhlys’s poison, I know I scared you, but I didn’t feel the same way. When it was happening, I just…” He took a deep breath before continuing. “I think I enjoyed it.”

The silence that followed wasn’t one of shock. It was more of a resigned acceptance. She hadn’t said a word yet but Percy thought he knew what she was going to say. It felt like this was something she had also been waiting for Percy to admit. After a couple of seconds, she spoke.

“I know.”

“How?” She hesitated again.

“You were smiling.”

Now it was a stunned silence. Yes, controlling the poison and hurting Akhlys like he did had felt good in the moment, like some power he had never experienced before, but he was actually smiling? Had he really been influenced by power that quickly, that easily? Since they got back from Tartarus, Percy hadn’t tried controlling anything that wasn’t water simply because he didn’t think it would work, but now he didn’t want to try for a completely different reason. Now, he was afraid it would work.

“I’ve only seen someone look like that once before,” Annabeth continued. “On Olympus, a year ago. When you were fighting Lu-...Kronos. He looked almost exactly like that.”

Percy didn’t know what to say. Now he knew how Annabeth must’ve felt that day in hell. He was terrified of himself. If he was really capable of such displays of horrific power, what was stopping him from turning out exactly like Luke? Everybody said he was a hero, but look what happened to him in the end. He had been persuaded and influenced by pure evil, eventually turning into a vessel for it. Turning into power itself.

Would Percy be able to say no to something like that?

If asked that question a year ago, he’d say of course he could never do something like that. He’d never be tempted with such things because he was good. He was one of the good guys. But in Tartarus, it had been so easy. He let his anger and frustration fuel him and he drove it towards one target: Akhlys. He did such horrific things, things he’d never been able to before and it wasn’t even because of some other source. Unlike Luke, he wasn’t being whispered to by the father of the Olympians.

No, that had all been Percy. All of that had come from him.

“Hey,” Annabeth said. She sat up again and settled on her knees across from Percy. She suddenly filled his view in place of the sea. Her hands reached out and cupped his cheeks, wiping away tears. “You’re not like him. You have both made mistakes, but you’re not like him.” Her voice cracked and Percy could see that her eyes were filling with tears of her own. He tried to keep it in, but the lump in his throat was growing larger and he choked out a sob. The tears started coming hot and fast, sliding down his face and onto the blanket.

Annabeth pulled him into her, wrapping her arms around him tightly. Percy tried to get his breathing under control, but a sob won out each time and he was left gasping for air between waves of tears. 

A couple of months ago, Percy had experienced what it felt like to be drowning for the first time in his life. This was uncomfortably similar.

Annabeth let him cry into her shirt but didn’t make any move to try and soothe him. What he needed was to let this happen, to experience such intense emotions that he hadn’t allowed himself to feel for so long. All she needed to do for him was to be there. To let him know that he wasn’t alone.

Neither one of them tried to speak until Percy’s racking sobs and hitched breathing had slowed into a quiet, steady stream of tears. He was still shaking near uncontrollably and Annabeth didn’t let go quite yet.

“It’s…” Percy hiccuped. Annabeth waited until he could continue. “It’s not fair.”

“What’s not fair?” she asked.

“It was supposed to be over.” He was able to breathe again without it getting caught in his throat and it seemed like he was almost completely recovered from his attack. He still didn’t move, though. He didn’t think he’d want to move ever again. Annabeth was so warm.

“We defeated Kronos and it was supposed to be over,” he continued. “That was the end, we did what we were meant to do. But instead, they just keep wanting us to do more and more. I can’t...” Tears were threatening to take over him again so closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“I know,” Annabeth said. She reached up and started to brush her fingers through his hair. “But it’s really over now. We completed another quest that was given to us, and now we’re gonna be able to do whatever we want.” Percy knew Annabeth was too smart to believe that, but he appreciated the effort regardless.

He wished it was true, though. He prayed that the gods would recognize the sacrifices he and Annabeth had made and just give them a break. If they weren’t able to live some semblance of a normal life, then what demigod could?

A harpy screeched in the distance and Percy and Annabeth were reminded that camp still had rules that they had to follow at least some of the time. Percy pushed himself up and away from Annabeth, but before he completely separated from her, she caught him in a kiss. It wasn’t a desperate kiss, or a kiss meant to say “I’m sorry”, it was just a kiss. A kiss between two people who knew how much they loved each other.

Annabeth and Percy rose and started on their way back towards camp. They held each other’s hand and silently made the decision to head back to Cabin Three. Together. If Chiron or anyone else had an issue with that, then they would be happy to have a conversation with them.

They were done suffering separately and, at least this once, they could do something about it.


	2. Nico

It was cold. Much too cold for a night in mid-July. The chill was an unnatural one, though; it wasn’t even. It felt as though it was all coming from one central place inside the camp. Will stood on the porch of the Apollo Cabin, wrapping his cardigan tight around his middle. Everyone else inside camp didn’t seem to feel anything was amiss - they were all still sleeping - but Will knew something was wrong. 

It wasn’t quite a breeze, but another wave of coldness washed over him and he suddenly recognized the feeling. It was one he hoped he’d never have to feel again.

He ran down from the porch, not caring if the harpies saw him breaking curfew, and sprinted off to the south, towards the other cabins. Towards Cabin Thirteen.

As he got closer, the air grew colder and colder to the point where Will could see his breath puffing out in front of him. The colder it got, the quicker his heart beat and the faster he needed to get inside that cabin. He threw himself against the door and luckily it wasn’t frozen shut like it had been in the past. It looked like nothing was frozen, which was actually a very good sign. The scene inside the cabin, however, erased the word “good” from Will’s mind.

Nico was laying in his bed, curled up on one side so that he barely took up any room on the mattress. His knees were drawn up to his chin and he was shivering violently. Candles were lit around the room and the flickering flames cast shadows that danced on nearly every surface. The shadows made Nico look like a zombie with sunken cheeks and gaunt eyes.

“Nico,” Will said. He took a step toward the bed, his hands out in front of him. It was a dangerous game, trying to wake Nico up from one of his nightmares, but Will had done it before. He knew what to do. He took another step forward and called Nico’s name again. It didn’t seem like he was responding, but the temperature of the room was starting to slowly rise and the candle flames weren’t reaching quite as high.

“Nico, you’re okay.” Will sat down on the edge of the bed near the son of Hades. He responded by drawing further into himself to get away from the figure that was suddenly next to him. Will placed his hand gently on Nico’s back but didn’t shake him to wake him up. He just let it rest there, hoping it would remind Nico where he was. Remind him that he was safe. After just a few more seconds, the room had returned to a normal temperature and Will stretched his feet, trying to shake feeling back into his toes. Nico was still cold to the touch.

He still shook under Will’s hand but it changed from a desperate shivering to a distraught tremble. This was a good sign. He was calming down from his nightmare and would hopefully drift off into, if not a peaceful sleep, then at least a dreamless one. Will brushed the dark hair away from Nico’s face and saw that his eyes were screwed shut tightly. There were no tears.

Usually when Nico slept, he looked the most at peace than he ever did awake. Will had seen that calm look wash over his features plenty of times when he was healing up in the infirmary, which happened more times than he would like to admit. Nico was probably the camper who wound up in there the most often. Though, he never seemed to have these nightmares while he was there. It seemed like these only happened when he was sleeping in his own cabin, thought Will doubted that was the reason. More specifically, they only happened when Nico was alone.

Now, instead of that peaceful, innocent look, one of terror and panic was set on Nico’s face.

It broke Will’s heart.

“You’re safe, Nico,” he whispered. “You’re always going to be safe here.” The son of Apollo looked at Nico for just a second more, then quietly stood and made his way back towards the door. Hopefully Nico would be able to sleep relatively soundly for the rest of the night. Will had been putting it off for too long and in the morning, he’d go over and talk to Clovis. It’s possible he’d have some ingredient Will could use to make a kind of draught or salve to help Nico sleep.

“Will?”

His hand froze halfway to the doorknob and he stood there, unsure of what to do. After just a moment of slight panic, he turned around slowly to face Nico. He was sitting up in his bed, his black hair wild and eyes squinting from the light. His voice was hoarse from sleep. Will had to come calm him down from a nightmare several times in the past, but the son of Hades had never woken up before.

“Hey, Nico.” He spoke softly, still fully aware that Nico could be sent into another episode fairly easily.

“What are you doing?” Nico rubbed the sleep from his eyes and Will felt his heart melt just a little bit. He walked back over to the bed and sat down on the edge once again. Nico looked a little surprised at this but pulled his legs under him so Will had space to sit.

“You were having a nightmare,” Will responded. “I could tell it was a bad one so I came over here to help calm you down.”

“Oh…” Will thought for sure Nico was going to get embarrassed, maybe even angry, but if anything, he just looked guilty. He looked down at the blankets separating the two boys. The next words from his mouth surprised Will even more than if he started shouting at him.

“Did I hurt anyone?”

“Oh, gods, no,” Will was quick to reassure him. He placed a hand on Nico’s knee and he didn’t flinch away. That was good, it was progress. “I knew something was wrong and I just - I came to check on you.” Now Nico looked guilty and confused.

“You knew something was wrong? How?”

Now it was Will’s turn to get embarrassed. He didn’t want to admit how closely he’d been watching Nico - not that he’d been watching Nico, he was monitoring his health - but now was as good a time as any.

“It’s been months, but I know you haven’t fully recovered from bringing the Athena Parthenos to camp,” he said, “and I wanted to make sure things weren’t getting too bad. I’ve been worried about you.” Nico squared his shoulders but still didn’t look up at Will. It seemed like he was getting ready to be yelled at.

“It’s not that,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“This,” he waved his hand in the air, gesturing to the room as a whole. “It’s not because of the Athena Parthenos. Those injuries haven’t bothered me for weeks. It’s...all the other stuff that’s been getting worse.”

“The other stuff?” Will sat up. He wanted to start checking Nico for other injuries, to make sure he hadn’t been hurt in training, but the look on Nico’s face stopped him. The closest word Will could find to describe it was shame. Like Nico was telling Will something, like he wanted to tell Will something, but was unsure as to why he wanted to do it. He looked conflicted.

“Nico, what’s going on?” He cupped Nico’s cheek in his hand and, surprisingly, the boy closed his eyes and leaned into it instead of shying away like Will expected. Whatever Nico was about to tell Will, it had been weighing on him for a long time. He was ready to let it out.

“I can’t tell you.” His voice was soft. “I could show you, but I don’t want to do that to you.”

“Nico…”

That was all Will had to say. Nico opened his eyes and placed a hand flat on Will’s chest. He was too stunned to say anything but he’d be surprised if Nico couldn’t feel his heart rate pick up as soon as he made contact.

Then he was taken away.

Instead of sitting on Nico’s bunk in Cabin Thirteen, he was sitting on what appeared to be gravel. He felt it between his fingers and it was more like shattered glass than rock. He couldn’t tell if it was red because that was it’s natural color or if it had acquired that hue after soaking in blood. It wasn’t until a moment later did he feel the heat. He was surprised he didn’t feel it immediately because once he did, it was all he could think about. It was a heavy, thick heat that pressed down into Will from every direction. It made it hard to move, to breathe, it was even difficult to blink. The air was thick with dust and it burned his lungs with every breath.

Where am I?

Then, he heard a shuffling sound off to his right. He spun around, rising to his feet, but almost dropped back down to his knees once he saw who it was.

The aviator's jacket he was so rarely seen without was tied around Nico’s waist, and his Stygian iron sword was at his side. But instead of wielding it like the weapon it was, he was using it like a walking stick, pulling himself along one step at a time. Even from the distance, Will could see his chest heaving with the difficult task of breathing in this acidic air. Will started walking toward him.

Nico.

Will tried to say the name out loud but no sound came from his mouth. It only rang as a faint whisper inside his own head.

Nico was even worse close up. His skin was glinting with sweat and his usually olive (albeit pale) complexion was now tinged with red like a bad sunburn. His breath audibly rattled his lungs as he slowly drew it in and then back out. Will’s tears felt like they were boiling as they slid down his cheeks.

Oh, Nico…

It was clear to him now where they were, what memories Nico was showing him. Will had only heard rumors of what it was like in Tartarus, but even those had been about Percy and Annabeth’s experience. He didn’t even know Nico had his own tale of what the pit was like. Almost everyone at camp talked about how Percy and Annabeth probably only made it out because they had each other, that they served as each other’s reasons to live. That was usually the case with the two of them.

But Nico was alone.

Will reached a hand out to touch the boy, but he passed right through him like a ghost. Instead of resting his hand on Nico’s shoulder, he stumbled forward and fell into him. Then he was engulfed in another vision.

This time, he was standing on the side of a grassy hill, surrounded by what looked like temples. He was so relieved by the sudden fresh air that at first he didn’t notice that, instead of watching Nico, he was Nico. He was looking out over what appeared to be Ancient Roman barracks, but that couldn’t be right, the San Francisco skyline wasn’t too far away. This must’ve been Camp Jupiter, the roman camp out to the west. Will had never been there, but he’d heard plenty of stories.

“Hey. I’ve brought a friend.” The voice of Hazel Levesque called from behind him and he turned. No, Nico turned. Will was merely witnessing one of Nico’s memories, he had to remember that.

Nico turned and saw Percy Jackson standing next to his sister. For a split second, panic flooded his heart but soon it was replaced with embarrassment, confusion, and eventually settled on anger.

“This is Percy Jackson,” Hazel continued. “He’s a good guy. Percy, this is my brother, the son of Pluto.” Will could feel Nico forcing himself not to react in any way that might reveal the fact that he already knew all about the person standing in front of him. He stuck out a hand.

“Pleased to meet you,” he said. “I’m Nico di Angelo.” Percy didn’t take his hand, instead, he just scowled.

“I - I know you,” he said.

“Do you?” Nico responded. He looked at Hazel as if for an explanation. Though he kept his calm demeanor, Will could feel the anger and panic bubbling in Nico’s chest, yearning to be let go. But he didn’t let them take over. He remained cool as Hazel responded.

“Um...Percy’s lost his memory.” She continued to tell Nico about whatever had happened to the son of Poseidon but Will wasn’t listening to a word of it. Instead, he was focused on what was going through Nico’s mind.

It was unfair. Of course Percy would lose his memory, forget everything that he’d done, and then end up here of all places. Camp Jupiter was safe from him, but now, right as Nico was starting to make some kind of connection there, he came stumbling in, infecting the camp with the curse that seemed to follow him everywhere. It just wasn’t fair.

Sooner or later, Percy Jackson would take everything from Nico.

And as soon as it came, the vision left him, and Will was back in Tartarus. He was sprawled out on the ground, and sharp rocks dug into his legs and the palms of his hands as he pushed himself up. At some point, Nico had fallen to his knees and stayed there, eyes closed and breathing heavily.

Will didn’t know what to do.

All he could do was sit there and watch Nico suffer.

A bellowing roar came from behind them and it made Will jump, but Nico looked like he was expecting it. He slowly got to his feet and picked up his sword from the ground, continuing to use it to walk. And so he did. Painfully slowly, Nico continued to walk through Tartarus. He was spent, completely destroyed, but he was going to live. He was going to find the Doors of Death and make it out of Tartarus.

In spite of Percy Jackson, he was going to live.

Then all of it was gone. Will was back in the Hades Cabin and back in the present. Nico’s hand was still pressed flat against his chest, but at some point, Will’s own hand had fallen to the bed. They stared at each other in silence for just a second.

Nico clapped his hand over his mouth and his eyes went wide. Will rushed to grab the small wastebasket at the side of the bed and placed it in front of Nico, thinking he was going to vomit. Instead, his eyes filled with tears and he started shaking his head. He looked horrified.

“I’m sorry,” he said into his hand. “I didn’t...I didn’t mean to. That was...I’m sorry.” His voice was strained and it was clear he was speaking around sobs, trying to maintain some level of composure. Sitting there, watching Nico torture himself and be terrified of himself was the final straw for Will. He was tired of seeing Nico believe lies about himself and who he was.

Will broke.

He moved the wastebasket from between them and pulled Nico into a tight hug. As tears started to fill his own eyes, he buried his face in Nico’s mess of black hair and held the boy close to him. He wasn’t going to let Nico do this to himself any more.

And it wasn’t just about the dreams. During training and activities, Will would see Nico around camp and he’d look out of it. It wasn’t just because of his usual exhaustion, but Will would catch him staring off into space, not paying attention to anything going on around him. He seemed to be hundreds of miles away, thinking about something none of the other campers could even begin to understand. And that included Will.

But Will didn’t need to understand what Nico had been through. Despite what he had just been shown, he knew that was only the beginning. Will just wanted Nico to know that he was there and that he wasn’t going anywhere.

Because seeing Nico continue to suffer would break Will’s heart and he didn’t know how much more of it he could take.

Nico sank into Will’s arms and soon both boys were crying. Nico was convulsing with violent, heavy sobs but Will was eerily still. His tears fell through closed eyes and he pulled Nico into himself tighter, trying to show him how he felt. Trying to prove to Nico that he wasn’t alone, and he never was going to be alone again.


End file.
